KENEDY – Kenedy residents expressed concerns about recent criminal activity in local neighborhoods during the Jan. 14 meeting of the Kenedy City Council.

Deborah Villarreal spoke to the city council during the public comments section of the meeting.

“I live at 308 Hackberry,” Villarreal said. “I have lived in that neighborhood for over 17 years. We have a family or a home that has caused quite a bit of problems within that neighborhood.”

Villarreal said she asked the police department for extra patrols in the neighborhood and the police accommodated her request, but the patrols only lasted eight days.

Video cameras have been installed, she said, and license plate numbers were recorded as well as times and dates of suspicious activities.

“Everyone knows that they are the ones that are breaking in to the area,” she said. “One family is the cause of all the problems that are going on in that neighborhood. I have had to spend $800 this month alone installing a security alarm system... I have lived there for 17 years and we have never had to lock our doors.”

Karnes County has grown, Villarreal added, noting that there are more people from out of the area living in Kenedy. She said the parents have left the home and the two people who live there now have been incarcerated in state correctional facilities and have a history of felony drug charges.

“It seems to me as though nothing is being done,” Villarreal said.

Kenedy Mayor Randy Garza told Villarreal that her concerns would be addressed with the chief of police.

Cheryl Moy also addressed the city council with her concerns about graffiti on a fence in the Graham Road area.

“It saddens me,” Moy said. “There is a definite problem.”

“I am really concerned about that area up there,” Moy said. “Everyone deserves to be protected.”

Later in the meeting Councilman Bob Patton asked Kenedy Chief of Police Duane DuBose if in the future, he could ask the next in command at the police department to be present for public comments at city council meetings, whenever he was unable to be present.